AP – Click and take a close look at the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Click back and sign up for thousands of pilgrims praying and circling around the cube-shaped Kaaba at Islam’s holiest site. Or tie yourself up a helmet and enter the holy city of Jerusalem.
There you will hear the murmur of Jewish prayers at the Western Wall or thousands of worshippers saying amen in unison at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. You can even light a virtual candle at the site where the Christians Jesus left the temple. tomb. All without leaving home.
Worshippers, tourists and visitors from all over the world are increasingly joining devout activities and virtual pilgrimages of truth to some of the holiest sites on earth. Such reports are part of the many evolving spaces of the metaverse, an immersive virtual world where other people can connect through avatars, which have gained popularity from the pandemic.
“We believe that virtual truth is, so to speak, the new internet, the new way for other people not to passively look at things on the screen and just click on images and videos, and teleport,” said Nimrod Shanit, CEO. by HCXR and Blimey, the makers of The Holy City, an immersive virtual reality experience that allows other people to visit Jerusalem’s holiest sites.
Participants “have a concept of the other rituals, cultures, architectures, they have a concept of the global without wanting to spend tons of money and contribute to global carbon emissions,” Shanit said.
Using a 360-degree camera, a lidar scanner and his education as a photojournalist, Shanit began capturing videos and images of Christian, Islamic and Jewish vacations and holy sites in his local Jerusalem in 2015. Then, he digitally brought together the sequences and photographs to create a visually immersive experience.
Virtual pilgrims can adhere to Orthodox devotees as they leave the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the sacred fireplace ceremony, with candles lit through a fireplace conveying to the faithful a divine message. You will also hear the sound of bells and chants of “The Lord is risen!”in several languages. They can slip a prayer note into a crack in the Western Wall or follow in the footsteps of thousands of worshippers during Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
To display Jerusalem’s main points in a virtual space, the developers scanned the holy sites and a giant physical style made in the nineteenth century that is borrowed from the city’s Tower of David Museum. Users can hover their mouse over this virtual style leading to giant-scale scans of the city entering through other gates leading to St. Petersburg’s Cathedral. James and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Shanit, who is Jewish, and his two partners, a Muslim and a Christian, hope the holy city can foster discussion and between religions.
Many Americans, some historically devout, others without devout association, communicate spiritually through virtual reality. Around the world, other people can also notice sacred sites for Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions through 360-degree videos, virtual maps, and 3-D. Temples
Experience Makkah uses 3D models to allow users to tour the Kaaba building, meet pilgrims in prayer dressed in white sponges, be informed about rituals, and explore other sites. They come with Mount Arafat, the nearby desert hill where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his last sermon about 1,400 years ago.
This immersive VR experience was introduced in 2015, but became more popular when it was updated in 2020, said Ehab Fares, managing director of virtual company BSocial, which created Experience Makkah.
In this first year of the pandemic, the hajj pilgrimage, which attracted around 2. 5 million people the previous year, was limited to just 1000 already living in Saudi Arabia due to restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
“In less than a month, it had more than 20,000 users from the Middle East and the rest of the world,” said Fares, whose company was founded in Cairo.
Fares calls Experience Makkah a “digital bonanza” with a special focus on young people. The latest edition can be explored on Google Cardboard, a cheap cardboard accessory that turns smartphones into virtual truth-mongers. “There is a younger generation that is glued to mobile phones, and I sought to succeed in that generation and introduce Islam through technology. “
Fares said he was pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction from other people around the world, but cautioned that he does not seek to update the hajj, which is one of the pillars of Islam.
“The goal was to give you an idea of what’s enjoyed on the floor,” he said, “but it’s actually not a replacement for real fun. “
The Sistine Chapel reopened to the public in early 2021 after the end of last November due to the pandemic. But even if in-person access was closed, Michelangelo’s stunning frescoes can be discovered through a virtual tour on the Vatican website.
The 360-degree panoramic projections of the papal basilicas and chapels are part of a collaboration between the Vatican and computer science scholars at Villanova University who traveled to Rome as interns.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to. . . that our students get involved in the church, with experiences, as our computer science majors work together with Vatican developers to create those experiences,” said Frank Klassner, a computer science professor at Villanova who leads the project with the Holy See.
“And the other people in the Vatican, dare I say, are also getting to know the next generation of faithful and pilgrims,” he said.
Faith-based virtual projects are also making inroads into academia.
This spring, at the University of Miami, academics connected VR headsets to watch 360-degree videos of a Haitian voodoo ceremony, a Hindu funeral rite and a Christian baptism. They explored Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Basilica, Athens’ Parthenon and Mecca during a course titled Religion and Sacred Spaces in the Age of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence.
Matthew Rossi, a 21-year-old math and computer science student who is an assistant course coach, grew up as a Catholic and is now among those not affiliated with religion. But the class, he said, gave him a new appreciation of devout traditions. and rituals.
“You feel like you’re moving with the crowd,” Rossi said of a 360-degree video of pilgrims circling around the Kaaba in Mecca, “and I like it, ‘It’s amazing. ‘”
The students also created their own virtual sacred spaces. A team formed an island-refuge where students, their avatars, can silently contemplate a smiling and rotating Buddha statue. Another built a stone labyrinth that led to a position where heaven and paradise seemed to merge.
William Green, a professor of devout studies and holder of the Fain Family Chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, said religion will have to involve concrete actions, from prayer or making a song to meditation or fasting.
“Religion involves your mind and it also involves your body,” Green continued. “And you can’t do this in two dimensions, but you can do it in the metaverse. “
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